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90

Computer Gaming World (CGW)

It’s hard to take issue with Sam II. Sure, the game gets merciless when you ratchet up the difficulty—but how can you fault that? And yes, it sounds like the developers got blitzed one night and recorded all the voices themselves, but that’s part of the charm. It all adds up to a crazy Duke Nukem meets Alice in Wonderland roller-coaster ride—a perfect change of pace from the scads of grim ‘n’ gritty shooters steeped in WWII war zones and dystopian futures. Just don’t take it too seriously, OK?

Yeah, it's still "Serious Sam", however, that sequel feels a bit different. It's fairly hard to describe it (try out the demo), but I would say that Serious Sam II just doesn't capture the feel of the original, instead the game feels more consolish and even more cartoonish than before. Which is not a bad thing, but some Serious Sam cult fans may be disappointed. I urge you to download the demo and give it a try! Who knows you might like it!

Still, even with a fly or two in the ointment, Serious Sam II is an amazingly fun game. It looks gorgeous, controls well, keeps the action flowing, and never once tries to be too clever for its own good. It's an incredibly fun ride from beginning to end, and well worth taking not only for Sam's fans from his previous games, but anyone looking for a good shot of sheer adrenaline gaming.

Serious Sam is the Motley Crue of video games, its crass, simplistic, loud, and obnoxious. There's lots of noise and big explosions. They lyrics sound like a coked-up three-year-old wrote them - wait, actually that's just the Crue. I'm all for sophistication and subtlety in both music and games, but there's something to be said for cranking up "Shout at the Devil" and letting both machine guns blast.

With your trigger finger almost constantly held down, there's an odd joy in the silly monsters and endless combat, but it's certainly nothing you haven't seen a hundred times before.

72

Game Watcher

Like the games that came before it, Serious Sam II will be a favorite for action game fans. If you like the “shoot’em up” type games, Serious Sam II definitely fits the bill. You will be faced with a wide variety of enemies that you can fight with a unique arsenal. Throw in great commentary from Nettie and outstanding graphics, and this action packed, fast-paced game with keep you on your toes from start to finish. The game is even able to change the enemy’s power as players come and go.

…And then there's Serious Sam II , a game that's content just to give you an absurdly huge futuristic gun, place you in an absurdly nonsensical magic forest location that looks like something from a long-cherished LSD experience, and send against you an army of 50 or so green-skinned, red-horned, pig-faced football players carrying exploding footballs. And when I say fifty, I mean fifty – at the same time.

For better or worse, Serious Sam II doesn't stray too far from its predecessors. It's essentially the same game in a prettier engine, mowing down waves and waves of enemies with the all-too-infrequent vehicle sequence or boss battle to break things up. For some gamers, that might be enough to justify the $30 price tag, especially when you factor in the co-op play, but anyone hoping to be blown away the way they were with the original may find it falls a bit short. Hopefully we won't have to wait another five years for Sam's next adventure, with bosses that, well, seriously outdo anything we've seen before.

Serious Sam's still an enormously likeable game. Where games can be antiseptic, it's always clear that this is a game made by human beings with desires, tastes and things which they think are funny that no-one else has done. With the luxury of a budget, Croteam has tended to indulge a little too much in the latter and it's resulted in a less elegant game. But it's hard not to find at least some love for a game which thinks (for example) it's a good idea to put a crocodile in a Croatian jersey, hide it in a level and provide a CROcodile secret bonus.

There is lots fun to be had in Serious Sam II. Everything it does, it does pretty well. For short intervals the combat is a blast. Intense and chaotic, it captures the essence of the original games and takes it to the next level with the improved engine. But the impact is nowhere near as dramatic as it was three or four years ago, and given the price is higher, the lure to buy is not as strong. Given the number of very strong first person shooters on the PC this fall, Serious Sam II stands out as a good but decidedly average game, and Sam may have worn out his welcome, too.

A cooperative mode is the only multiplayer option available in Serious Sam II, and while games like this can certainly be more fun if you play them with friends, the co-op mode doesn't do anything to fix Serious Sam II's shortcomings. Fans of Serious Sam will enjoy some aspects of being in Sam's red sneakers again, and the game's goofy humor and corny references to other first-person shooters do give this game a distinct personality. But while the action will keep you on edge, it rarely achieves the sort of teeth-grinding, fist-clenching intensity that you'd expect if you played the original Serious Sam games or are otherwise looking for a totally satisfying no-nonsense shooter.

Quite frankly it's an insult to have to pay 35 quid for something that starts getting irksome in under half a day and is only genuinely entertaining in 20-minute bursts. Mindlessly fun and manically intense it is, innovative and essential it seriously isn't...